[spoiler]This installment of Exotic History is provided by LordZero[/spoiler] Herod and Silvia slowly walked down the hall in a leisurely fashion. Herod constantly looked down at his chest at the engraved tree, admiring the craftsmanship and the fact that it was his. Silvia simply examined her gauntlets in curiosity. No conversation was started until halfway down the hall when Herod suddenly grinned and looked up at Silvia. "Wanna go test these out?" Silvia paused and looked at him. "What?" "Let's go practice! We just got 'em so let's use them!" Silvia laughed. "You sound like a child with a new toy." "A very shiny new toy!" Herod broke into a jog and headed towards the training room. "Come on it will be fun!" Silvia smiled and broke out into a run, passing Herod in a flash. "Race ya." "Hey!" Herod tore off and did his best to keep up with her. They sped through the halls, around the occasional person, and soon ended up in the training room. Herod collapsed to his knees panting heavily as Silvia leaned against the wall. She grinned at him and wiped the sweat off her brow. "I win." "N... nah... I... just... let you... win... Oh dear Lords..." Herod held his chest. Silvia shook her head. "Sure you did." She patted his head and walked out to the center. "Keep telling yourself that." Herod watched her for a bit as he caught his breath. Lilith floated beside his head and whispered. "You just going to take that from her?!" "Its... all in.. good fun Lilith." He sat up on his knees and stood up, wiping the dust from his pants. "Well atleast you like being bossed around." Her eye sparked with joy in a sadistic sort of way. "Oh hush..." He waved his hand at her and began making his way towards Silvia. She was doing some light stretches as she watched Herod approached. "So, what first?" Herod shrugged. "All depends. What's your armor good for?" "Why should I tell you? Then it wouldn't be a surprise." "Something tells me I will hate this surprise..." "You won't know until you find out." She grinned at him and looked at Gabriel. "Can you load up the urban simulator map?" "Of course Silvia dear." He expanded his shell and scanned the arena around them. Holographic lights flared to life and the ground around them changed into a dense urban like area. Silvia smiled slyly and waved slightly as she teleported somewhere. "See you in the feedback screen." Herod looked around as his armor began to phase onto him as well as his trusted sidearm. He pulled it out and checked the ammo before slowly walking forward. Destroyed buildings were all over the in the mock up European Dead Zone. His boots made a soft crunch sound as small pieces of scrap metal and dirt lined the narrow streets and walkways of the area. He constantly checked his radar and slowly moved as Lilith popped up beside him. "I may hate the girl but she does have a sense of style. The ruined buildings and overall morbid air gives this place a nice touch. All we need is burning buildings and lots of smoke." Herod shook his head and kept moving. His radar gave a vague ping occasionally but they were inconsistent and random unless Silvia could move that fast... He stopped in the middle of a four way intersection. Tall buildings surrounded him on all sides and there were multiple open panels in the walls to allow sneaky shot off without ever being seen. Herod glanced up at one of the buildings. He gave a small whisper to Lilith. "Switch my screen to heat sensors." His visor flashed several shades of blue and purple as he spoke loudly to the buildings. "Come on now. I thought we were fighting not playing hide and seek!" He slowly turned to look. "You know that's no fun." A flash of white and red darted to cover and stayed still, oddly blending slightly in to the cooler background. He grinned and continued looking around as if he didn't notice. "Silvia come on! Let's not part like this! Come on out and let's tussle!" The now bluish red blob scooted closer to a corner and held something long and rifle like in its hands. A message appeared on his HUD 'Right here stupid. She's armed.' Herod stood still and cracked his knuckles. "Won't come out? Fine... Guess your not here." He turned and walked in a direction. The blob got closer to the corner and held the rifle in a firing position but not in his direction yet. He waited three seconds as he summoned a grenade and chuckled it at the blob. The rod turned from blue to red to white hot as it seemed to shimmer in the air and stuck to the wall near the blob. White streaks sprang forth as the blob yelped in pain and moved away quickly. Herod grinned as ran along the building, watched the white blob move quickly through it. The intensity of the heat shifted and faded as it traveled through rooms until it finally hopped out of the structure and landed in the street. Herod rounded the corner and unloaded part of his clip into Silvia. She yelped and ducked out of the way as Herod quickly reloaded and sped off after her. The radar flared to life as the Silvia ducked in and out of cover. He flinched as a stray sniper round zoomed past his head and Silvia disappeared. Herod grunted and reloaded his ammo once more, checking the radar and hiding from sight. "Lilith. Anything near us?" "Not exactly. She's a slippery one for a Titan." "What's that mean?" "Her location is cloaked slightly. Probably by that... Ghost of hers." Her tone was angered as she spun in place. Herod nodded. "Well either way can you get a basic location?" "That much yes... Moving north of us.. Few paces ahead." Herod nodded again and moved quickly forward, following Lilith's vague directions. As he drew closer, his radar began to ping again and he ducked into another piece of cover. He once again looked around as the blues and purples around him gave a vague description of the area around him. No signs of heat caught his attention. "You sure she's around her?..." "Would I lie to you?" "Course you would..." "About some things! Not this thing!" "Sure..." Herod checked his ammo once more out of habit as Lilith scanned the area. "Watch it! Above!.." Before Lilith could finish, Herod felt his shoulder spaz in pain as his shields cut off. He glanced up to see a small red blur near the rooftop. He cursed and took off, firing stray rounds as cover. He felt the adrenaline kick in suddenly as his armor pulsed a faint gold. His movement did seem faster as instinct took over, lunging him to the side as a rock exploded next to him. He hid from view as his shields regenerated, letting the high he received fade into a dull pain. "Boy... that was interesting..." "I'll say..." Lilith scanned him. "That's the fastest you've ever run since chasing down that one b**** a while ago." "She wasn't a b****!" Herod flinched as another rock exploded. "She was just..." "A b****? Least she was better than this one." "Oh hush..." Herod watched as the red blur moved closer to gain a vantage point. A pulsing lighting grenade stuck near him but at just the right angle to be avoided. He bunkered down and waited, aiming down sights. Silvia quickly hopped down and started to move foward as Herod scrambled out to face her. She gave a laugh as his HUD switched back to normal view. "Well I guess you weren't lying when you said you let me win that race." She was standing rather relaxed, her sniper resting on her shoulder. Herod took a less aggressive stance but still pointed his sidearm at her. "And you doubted me." Silvia gave a sigh. "Well either way, I win." "Pardon me? I'm not dead." She shrugged her shoulder a bit, causing her sniper to bounce up slightly. "It takes one, maybe two shots to deal with you. Yours takes half a clip." "Question is, can you fire two rounds before I can empty my mag?" Herod gave a cocky grin. "Hm..." Silvia thought for a moment. "Yea I believe so." "Oh yea?" "Yea." She shrugged her shoulder again. "I bet." The two stared at each other silently, waiting patiently for the other to make a move. Herod swallowed and rolled his shoulders slightly. Silvia simply stood still and waited. "How about on the count of three?" Herod shrugged a bit as he checked his ammo for a brief moment. "Fine then." Silvia put her weight on one leg, letting her hip jut out. "I'll be the gentleman and let you count us off." "Well guess I get to move first, which is how I'll win." "Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm not dead yet." Herod grinned and aimed down sights. "One." Neither of them moved. "Two." Everything seemed to slow down as Silvia tensed slightly around the shoulders and her legs, getting ready to pounce. Herod breathed in slightly. "One." Herod let off a round as Silvia started to pull her sniper forward. As he pulled the trigger again, a large explosion shuddered the building causing the environment to cancel around them and rubble to fall from the ceiling. The two froze as another explosion hit. "What the... Herod flinched as the third explosion shook the walls and the lights faded. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/183802207/0/0 link to part 4 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/205440735/0/0 link to part 6 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/172285215/0/0/1 link to The Million Dollar Man